NANJING, China, Aug. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Simcere Pharmaceutical Group ("Simcere" or the "Company") (NYSE: SCR), a leading pharmaceutical company specializing in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of branded generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals in China, today reported preliminary unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2012.

Highlights

Total revenue was RMB528.7 million (US$83.2 million) for the second quarter of 2012, compared to RMB546.4 million for the same period in 2011, representing a decrease of 3.2%. For the first six months of 2012, total revenue was RMB1,016.3 million (US$160.0 million), representing a decrease of 1.2% from RMB1,028.6 million for the same period in 2011.

Gross margin for the second quarter of 2012 was 83.9%, compared to 84.9% for the same period in 2011. For the first six months of 2012, gross margin was 83.0%, compared to 84.4% for the first six months of 2011.

Income from operations was RMB41.6 million (US$6.5 million) for the second quarter of 2012, compared to RMB79.9 million for the same period in 2011, representing a decrease of 48.0%. For the first six months of 2012, income from operations was RMB84.8 million (US$13.4 million), which represented a decrease of 22.6% from RMB109.6 million for the same period in 2011.

Net incomeattributable to Simcere was RMB27.0 million (US$4.2 million) for the second quarter of 2012, a decrease of 63.4% from RMB73.7 million for the same period in 2011. For the first six months of 2012, net income attributable to Simcere was RMB55.6 million (US$8.8 million), which represented a decrease of 45.3% from RMB101.6 million for the same period in 2011.

Mr. Jinsheng Ren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group said, "In the second quarter of 2012, Simcere's revenue and gross margin remained largely stable. While sales of edaravone, Endu and Sinofuan continued to grow compared with the first quarter of 2012, year-over-year sales performance was below our expectation. During the quarter, we increased our marketing efforts for branded generic drugs such as Zailin, Yingtaiqing and Biqi which helped drive sales growth in these key products but impacted profitability."

"In the second quarter, we were encouraged by sales of our new Category 1 drug Iremod and Shanghai Celgen's biogeneric drug Qiangke," continued Mr. Ren. "We also received approval to initiate clinical studies for our oncology drug candidate Thiophenib and continue to see strong progress with the four additional new drug candidates currently under clinical trials."

2012 Second Quarter Financial Results

Total revenue for the second quarter of 2012 was RMB528.7 million (US$83.2 million), compared to RMB546.4 million for the same period in 2011, representing a decrease of 3.2%. For the first six months of 2012, total revenue was RMB1,016.3 million (US$160.0 million), representing a decrease of 1.2% from RMB1,028.6 million for the same period in 2011.

The tables below set forth the Company's top 10 products by revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2012 and six months ended June 30, 2012: